Palm Pixi Plus

The thinnest Palm mobile phone yet, the Palm Pixi Plus for Verizon Wireless is a smartphone that's designed to be easy to use and light in your pocket. In addition to high-speed connectivity on the fast and reliable Verizon Wireless 3G network, the phone's memory has been doubled to 8 GB and it comes with a built-in 3G Mobile Hotspot that can be shared via Wi-Fi among five devices--laptop, another phone, MP3 player, and more...

Features

• 3G-enabled smartphone with intuitive Palm webOS platform, touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard; easy integration with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and more
• GPS-enabled for turn-by-turn directions; can be used as a 3G Mobile Hotspot for up to five Wi-Fi connected devices
• 8 GB internal memory; 2-megapixel camera/camcorder; Bluetooth stereo music streaming; Wi-Fi-enabled
• Up to 5.2 hours of talk time, up to 350 hours (14.5 days) of standby time
• What's in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, AC charger, micro USB cable, quick start guide, gesture guide

Reviews

Really great phone for personal (non-enterprise) smart phone users

by M. R. B. from Manchester, CT - USA on 2010-03-20
I recently dumped Sprint service and a HTC Touch Pro (awful phone) for Verizon service and the Palm Pixi Plus. I noticed that the reviewers of this phone tend to be women. I suspect that with a name like "Pixi", males were not the intended market for this phone. However men shopping for phones should not dismiss this out of hand - I am glad that I gave it a look. Just a few things I want to note: Unlike in previous Palm phones - Centro, Treo Pro, etc, the keyboards on both the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi are significantly improved and much more usable. The Pixi's keyboard has what feels like rubberized plastic keys that are very grippy and spaced well enough apart that thumb typing is possible, even for a person with larger fingers (i.e. men, me). The phone is super slim which is not only a nice aesthetic, but practical too - especially if you carry your phone in a pants pocket rather than in a belt clip case or handbag. Finally, the Palm WebOS operating system is superb. While other OS's may have better or larger aftermarkets / application development communities, this OS is very easy and intuitive to use. I have not yet had to consult this phone's user manual for any routine tasks. Everything just works. Additionally, the integration with major web services (Yahoo and Google especially) are incredible. The phone can accommodate multiple e-mail accounts with ease. Calendars can also be synced with online services so that a change on the phone shows up online and vice-versa. Very cool. These integration features really increase the utility of a smart phone and I find myself making more frequent use of this device than I did my HTC Touch Pro. The straw that tipped the scale for me in favor of Palm's phones using the WebOS versus other phones and other operating systems is that, through the online Palm Profile (requires registration w/ phone activation) you can erase all your phone's data if your phone is lost or stolen. This is a feature that I imagine will be common on mobile OS's in the future, but to my knowledge is exclusive to Palm today. Other users have noted poor battery life; for moderate use (3 or 4 hours of calls, texts, web, apps), the phone usually gets through 1.5x days of use, in my experience. If used heavily for multimedia (video / music), the battery drains quicker, of course.

Form and Functionality

by RegularEverydayNormalGuy from on 2010-03-30
So after waiting like 6 months for Verizon to get the Pre, I was so ready to buy one, until I read a couple reviews on this little monster called the Pixi. I decided to go to the store and check both of them out. After spending 10 minutes listening to the Verizon guy tell me the Driod was better/manlier/cooler/whatever, I asked to play around with the 3 phones for a bit while he helped other customers. I encourage anyone to do this. My impression: The Pixi weighs something like half as much as the two others. It is slimmer than an iPhone or Razer. I could not tell if it was in my pocket or not. This is how a phone should feel. There was no sacrifice. The Pixi can do literally 98% of what the Pre can do. Unless you are planning on 800 mHz overclocks, opening 10+ cards, or 3-d games, the Pixi will do it. Now, I regularly leave my email, messaging, stocks, dialer, facebook all open simultaneously. I can instantly switch back and forth with a swipe, and no, it does not affect battery life to leave cards open. If I ever needed to call someone I literally just start typing the first few letters of the name, tap, and I'm dialing. Much easier than onscreen keyboards. In comparison the Driod operating system felt clunky and slow. It was hard to switch between applications and there was no pinch zoom. It had a built in application that you had to use if you wanted to close down extra programs running in the background. webOS is everything Android should have been. Not only is the pixi one of the smallest most capable phones on the market, but it's one of the most solidly built. With no slider it has zero flex and fits easily in your hand. I have fairly large hands (6'2" guy) and thought I would have trouble with the keyboard but it was actually easier than any other phone I have ever used. I can easily dial and message with one hand (I know it's not safe while driving, but this is coming from someone who regularly watches his friends drive with their knees while trying to type on an iPhone). Anyway, if you can't tell, I endorse this product. Now that it can be had for free it's a no brainer. It is important to point out that the Pre is also free at some online locations and Walmart. If you want slightly more power check that out. But if you want one of the smallest most capable phones ever made, this is it. I'm hoping in a years time Palm will merge the Pre 2.0 into a slightly wider Pixi with the same slim feel and form factor.

Try it, you'll love it!

by Mom in Chicago from on 2010-03-16
I have been waiting to upgrade my old Blackberry pearl and this phone was worth the wait. I first bought the pre plus. I loved the WebOS software, but the phone just wasn't quite what I wanted. The Pixi plus with it's wifi- video capability, multi-tasking and completely synched calendars, e-mail, and life in general keeps me where I am supposed to be when I am supposed to be there. It's easy to use. I found the keyboard even easier than the Pre. And hands down better than the droid! I have found myself trying to "swipe" away reminders on other phones I use, but nothing is as easy as the webOS software- it's truly amazing! I don't use this as a music player, so the memory wasn't so much of a concern for me. The battery life has improved signifcantly since I first started using it. It fits perfectly in my hand and so far everyone I work with thinks it's great. It can be synched with Outlook wirelessly, so I do use it for both work and play. There is a whole group of folks that have developed tweaks to get it to do and look exactly how you want it- it's not about the number of apps- it's about the quality! Try it- you will like it! And if you don't, Verizon lets you return it within 30 days.

I would give it 5 stars if not for the poor battery life

by L. Mcconner from Los Angeles, CA on 2010-01-28
I love this phone. It's operating system is very intuitive and smooth. Also, the small size lends it a cuteness factor that is too hard to resist. Even though the keyboard is extremely petite I find it very easy to type fast and accurately. People have been commenting that the Pixi Plus is slower than the Pre Plus. I've played with both devices while in the Verizon store and while the Pixi is a tad bit slower it is still fast enough. The lag time is about 10 seconds or less. That is nothing; still super fast to me. This Verizon edition has Wifi, which is lacking in the Sprint model. Nice. From what I read the addition of Wifi should help ease the strain on the horrible battery. Con: Battery life. Even though I changed some of the settings to increase battery life I am finding that it still sucks. Even when it is just sitting in my purse the battery drains. So, basically you will only be able to get about a day's worth of a charge on this phone and that is with changing the settings such as decreasing the brightness of the screen, turning off the GPS, etc.. Depending on usage, you will find yourself charging it twice a day. Since I really do love this phone I will just have to put up with the battery and take full advantage of my AC adapter as well as my Touchstone. With this battery a car charger would be a good investment as well. Pros: Everything else. Three weeks later: I find myself more satisfied with the battery life. Manually changing the above mentioned settings on this phone does make a difference. It does not constantly drain from inactivity as it did before and even though I still have to charge it by the end of the day at least I get a full day's use out of it before I have to. I also understand that Palm will be providing a wireless update for both the Pre Plus and Pix Plus that will give it the ability to record video. I remember reading that somewhere. I will check back and update my review when (if) this happens. Ok. According to @Palm on Twitter a Sprint video recording update will be happening real soon. Alright, hurry up with the Verizon update all ready. Downloading VZW's Web OS 1.4 now. Now I will be able to capture video, upload it on youtube,etc. Plus, according to Palm this update will enhance battery life. Yes!!!!! Fully charged it last night (Sun) and battery life is at 74% the next night (Mon). That's awesome! So, it's been close to weeks since I've downloaded the VZW's Web OS 1.4 upgrade and the phone is performing excellently. The speed of the processor has picked up a bit. Also, the upgrade makes the indicator light flash whenever you get an email, text, etc. So, no more having to hit the power button just to see if there are any alert icons on your screen. Thanks Palm so much for the upgrade!

Good with the bad. Overall, I do like it

by Tereza S. Murray from on 2010-03-07
This is my second Pixi & it is much better than the first due to the updates. It's got a lot of neat features & once you get the hang of how it works (which isn't too challenging) then, it's a great phone. If you do encounter something you are unable to figure out, Sprint (my carrier) has online chat help as well as phone customer service to help you when you need it. It still has hiccups though. The screen goes black about one to two times a week. Also, when I push the power button to turn on or turn off the screen, sometimes I have to push it several times. The reception is absolutely horrible in my house of all places & the line drops resulting in another racked up minute if I've called a lan-line phone number. Next, it takes the web quite sometime to load a page even if the signal is strong. And last, when I listen to a video say on Youtube, I can barely hear the sound even with the volume turned all the way up resulting in me not seeing the video because I have my face pressed onto the speaker trying to hear. Other than that, the phone is great! Oh,I forgot. the battery life is terrible. I charge it once sometimes twice a day. On with the good. The phone has a lot of great features. The touch screen is great. The calendar is very easy to manage as well as the memo & task menu. The task menu & calendar have a notes section at the bottom of their page which is helpful. When there is an upcoming event in your calendar, you receive a reminder from your phone as well as an email reminder up to a day ahead of the event. When on a call though, I'm unsure of how to hang up with the first caller to change over to the second caller without hanging up on both or having both lines open. So if you're leaving a voice message for someone & have to go over to the other line, the voicemail will continue running until you hang up both lines. The camera pixels are detailed at least as far as I can tell. When you're done with a certain application there is the feature of flicking the page upward to get rid of it. So overall yes the phone has it's quirks, but it is my little helper & I have to take the good with the bad. I would recommend this phone

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